Whom is David Brooks Currently Serving?

By Nicholas Stix

The following letter came from a reader one month ago, but I just responded to it a couple of days ago. As I’ve said before, I’m not sure if “David Brooks” and “David Brock” are really two different people. Has anyone ever seen them in the same room together?

In a message dated 10/8/2008 5:35:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, **********@att.net writes:
Subject: WEBCommentary.com Comments/Feedback to Contributor
Comments/Questions/Feedback: Just finished reading your Krauthammer/Brooks column.

Now that Brooks has stated that Palin "represents a cancer on the
Republican Party" and that Obama will win by nine points, what do you
think?

NS: I'm shocked. Not that Brooks would despise Palin—he's always despised populists—but that he would say so, since he knew that doing so would harm McCain. Brooks had supported McCain for at least nine years, going back to his days at the weekly standard.

But Brooks is a courtier. The question then is, Who is he courting? The biggest power in his professional life right now, is his publisher, Pinch Sulzberger. Granted, Pinch is a communist, but as a courtier, Brooks is going to do whatever he thinks will protect him and his family. And when he jumped ship to the Times, he put himself at Sulzberger's mercy.

If I'm wrong, look for Brooks to jump ship from the Times to whoever he was doing a favor by planting the shiv in John McCain's back.